Coffee Recipes

All About Us

Type of Chocolate

Type of Chocolate: well, milk chocolate is America's favorite type. It is favored by nearly 2/3 of Americans over any other form of chocolate, despite the fact that it isn't necessarily the healthiest of choices.

Milk chocolate has milk added in addition to the cocoa solids and chocolate liquor, making it creamier than any other. However, it’s also the one type of chocolate that is the highest in fat content. Learn here, all about milk chocolate and how it may be used in baking.

Ingredients of Milk Chocolate

Milk chocolate has been the most popular choice of chocolate manufacturers for making candy bars for years. What criteria does this chocolate type need to meet in order to be classified as such?

America’s standards are slightly different than standards set for chocolate manufacturers in Europe. The amount of chocolate liquor in this type of chocolate made in America must be at 10%.

However, in Europe, the percentage of chocolate liquor must be a minimum of 25%.

Uses for America's Favorite Type of Chocolate

How can you use America’s favorite type of chocolate in your own baking?

First and foremost, always use a recipe that calls for milk chocolate specifically or else you won’t get the best results. Due to the high amounts of sugar and the addition of milk to this type of chocolate, it is more sensitive to heat and will react much differently in a recipe than bittersweet, unsweetened, or semi sweet chocolate.

You’ll experience a less intense chocolate flavor using this type of chocolate as well, which seems to be ideal for some people.

Ideas for Using It at Home

Muffins – excellent for breakfast, snack, or even as a dessert

Cookies – the popular chocolate chip cookie and many other recipes call for chocolate chips

Breads – a deliciously moist addition to zucchini bread, banana bread, and many other bread recipes

Waffles and pancakes – it’s easy to add a few chips to your favorite batter and make these ordinary breakfast items extraordinary

How to Choose the Best Milk Chocolate

Chocolate products are not all manufactured with the same high-quality ingredients, which means not all chocolate bars or confections will taste the same. Here are a few tips for choosing the best chocolate products made with this type of chocolate.

The chocolate in America is made with a mixture of sugar and milk, so sometimes the quality isn’t as high as European-made chocolate. European chocolate contains condensed milk, but no added sugars.

Good chocolate never leaves behind a greasy residue on fingers or in your mouth.

It should have a pleasurable taste and aroma.

High quality chocolate will appear glossy.

Unlike the dark chocolate variations, this type of chocolate is not as healthy for you because it contains higher amounts of sugar, cholesterol, and fat.

However, research has shown that America's favorite type of chocolate will improve your mood when you’re feeling a bit down. Battle the blues with chocolate and you’ll feel better! (Just don’t over do it of course.)